The Hamilton store where a winning ticket was sold. Photo / Christine Cornege
A struggling couple who say they have been "living on the bones of our arses forever" have claimed a $17.7 million Lotto Powerball prize.
The couple, who want to stay anonymous, were one of two winners who scooped half of a $34 million must-be-won Lotto Powerball draw on Saturday.
They
only won the prize when the husband urged his wife to buy an extra Powerball ticket on top of their weekly Lotto combo ticket.
After years of struggling, the massive payout will set them up for life, they say.
"We've been on the bones of our arses forever, and have never won anything before, so this win is just magic - but very hard to take in," the wife said.
"It didn't seem real, we had been joking all Saturday about what we would do if we won, and now we actually had! Now all those things we talked about doing are actually possible, like buying a business so we don't have to work for anyone anymore, looking after the kids' futures, helping out family and charities and taking off on some overseas trips. This will set us up for life."
The couple had planned to watch the live draw, but lost track of time and only realised at 8.05 pm that they had missed the results.
They then found the winning numbers online at the MyLotto website.
The wife kept the winning ticket in the drawer of her bedside cabinet overnight, before both drove to nearby town Waipawa to officially claim their prize on Sunday.
"We were then in shock, we must have checked those numbers about 10 times," the wife said.
"We didn't sleep a wink all Saturday night. We just kept tossing and turning as we couldn't believe that we had won."
The other winning $17.7 million Powerball ticket for Saturday's record draw was sold at Take Note Dinsdale in Hamilton.
That winner has not yet come forward to claim their prize.
